Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Reduces Holdings in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lowered its stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 95,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,439 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $3,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 362,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,836,000 after buying an additional 10,064 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at $766,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in BankUnited by 462.0% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after purchasing an additional 22,981 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in BankUnited by 211.5% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 59,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,172,000 after buying an additional 40,461 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in BankUnited in the 3rd quarter worth about $347,000. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKU has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Hovde Group cut their price target on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Compass Point upped their price target on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.45.

BankUnited Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of BankUnited stock opened at $34.44 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.88. BankUnited, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.34 and a 1-year high of $44.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $37.58 and a 200-day moving average of $38.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 1.40.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. This is an increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is 40.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total value of $113,772.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at $430,955. The trade was a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $32.07 per share, for a total transaction of $64,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $666,478.74. This trade represents a 10.65 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BankUnited Company Profile

BankUnited, Inc operates as the bank holding company for BankUnited, a national banking association that provides a range of banking services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, such as checking, money market deposit, and savings accounts; certificates of deposit; and treasury, commercial payment, and cash management services.